By definition, elementary particles can't be broken into smaller pieces. But in a new theoretical study published in Physical Review Letters, Johannes Skaar and colleagues have revealed what would happen if you tried anyway for a single photon. The answer is deeply strange: attempting to cut a photon in two wouldn't produce two smaller photons, but instead conjure an infinite number of them out of thin air.
  • rebelsimile@sh.itjust.works
    5·
    9 hours ago

    If you flipped a mirror back and forth fast enough to “split a photon” you’d end up generating a bunch of photons due to the heat energy generated by the system anyway. I’m sure that’s not what they’re talking about but just imagine something oscillating that quickly.

  • ByteJunk@lemmy.world
    9·
    11 hours ago

    This is a purely theoretical exercise, from what I could understand:

    [They] considered what would happen if a single photon passed through an optical shutter—essentially a very fast mirror that can be switched on and off to block part of a pulse of light. If the shutter was fast enough, it could intercept the photon mid-pulse, snipping off part of this extended wave.

    They then did a bunch of calculations to simulate what would happen, but I’m wondering if such a shutter wouldn’t have to travel at the speed of light to catch the photon, and if this doesn’t make the experiment meaningless…

    • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
      2·
      9 hours ago

      Sound like they are implying that photons can be collided and it creates a whole new set of particles.